


It's a Date

by rainbowtourmaline



Category: Free!
Genre: Fluff, Humour, Light Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-04
Updated: 2017-07-04
Packaged: 2018-11-23 09:42:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,103
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11400003
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rainbowtourmaline/pseuds/rainbowtourmaline
Summary: “We’re back! And we brought some whipped cream for that delicious… oh.” Nagisa grimaced at the way Makoto and Haru were turned away from each other. “Guys I think we’re gonna need some more sweets, we've got two sour faces here!”





	It's a Date

**Author's Note:**

> In celebration of Free's fourth anniversary and the new official art that has been released, I present to you this fanfic! 
> 
> By the way, if you're wondering what official art I'm referring to, please have a look at it before you read: 
> 
> http://rnhrk.tumblr.com/post/162457923735/tojoh-pls-click-to-see-their-beautiful-smiles-in

Makoto Tachibana couldn't believe what he was looking at. 

"OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD!" 

He'd seen a lot over the years he has been friends with Haruka Nanase, but this took the cake, this took the freaking delicious chocolate cake he was about to enjoy before Haru just casually passed him this life changing photo like it was nothing!

"Makoto? Are you okay?" Haru took a sip of his tea while he watched his best friend freak out at the image in his hand. “Do you not like the photo?”

Not like it? Not like it?!

Makoto didn’t like this photo. No statement couldn’t have been truer.  

No. Makoto _loved_ it.

“Haru.” Makoto smacked the table in determination and turned his gaze to Haru, using the sternest expression in his arsenal to get the young Olympic swimmer to see that he meant business and that none of his usual tom foolery would be tolerated until he got answers. “This may seem like a really blunt question and I’ve kept my mouth shut because who you want to swim with is your business and I have always respected that.”

Haru blinked in confusion. He needed permission to swim with people?

“But after looking at this photo I need you to confirm something I and the team have suspected for a long, long time. You’re my friend Haru so you don’t have to tell me the whole story, but I hope you will trust me enough as your best friend to tell me _the truth_.”

Gasp. Makoto was serious. Haru put his cup down.

“Are you and Rin… dating?”

For his friend’s dignity, Haru tried to be _serious_ , he really did - but he couldn’t stop laughing!

“ANSWER THE QUESTION HARU!” A flushed Makoto tried to ignore how adorable Haru’s bell-like laughter was so he wouldn’t fall under its spell, because he had to know the truth!

“You sound like the old lady who took our photo!” Haru wiped a tear from his place on the mat. “She said she wanted me and Rin to have that photo, because she wished she and her girlfriend could be like us in public.”

“I don’t blame her!” Makoto squeaked, waving the photo around. “You look like one of those super lovey dovey couples they feature in vacation catalogues to sell holidays!”    

“We’re not a couple Makoto.” Haruka giggled. “Rin’s not into that…”

The way he said that made Makoto’s heart stop.

“And you?”

Haru smiled at the sun setting in the distance and sighed.

“It doesn’t matter.” Makoto watched silently as Haru got up to tidy the coffee table Makoto soiled with his thrashing. The way Haru quietly wiped the green tea he spilt off the table reminded Makoto of the time Haru gave up swimming professionally because he thought he hurt Rin, and that made Makoto mad.

“It does too matter!” in an uncharacteristic show of aggression, Makoto took the cloth Haru was using and threw it out the window. Haru nonchalantly stared after it and said “That was my last clean tea towel Makoto.”

“And I am very sorry about that Haru!” Makoto apologised in a manner that was more fitting with his character. “But you are wrong! Wrong, wrong, wrong! Your feelings do matter and I’d say they matter quite a bit to Rin as well!”

“He likes girls Makoto.” Haru said in an almost defeated voice.

“And so what?! Maybe he’s bisexual! Maybe he doesn’t care about the gender of his partner! Or maybe he’s straight but just doesn’t give a damn about that because he’s been head over heels in love with you since we were kids!”

“Because he likes swimming with me?” Haru asked.

“No!” Makoto shouted loud enough for probably the neighbours, including his mother, to hear, but he didn’t care.  “Because you quit the thing you loved most because you thought you hurt him! Because even though you two were fighting you both wanted to be together more than anything in the world! Because when the other wants to run away and give up on everything they have worked for, you will pull the other right back in and tell them everything will be okay!”

Haru looked at the floor so he wouldn’t have to look at Makoto.

“You’d probably do that stuff for me too Makoto.”

“I would, but that’s because you and I have been best friends since we were babies.” Makoto kneeled to Haru’s level so he could put a comforting hand on his shoulder. “But Haru, most people don’t whisk just anyone half way across the world for a lifechanging trip. Most people aren’t still obsessed with their rival after they’ve travelled to Australia to attend a good school. And most people don’t look at each other the way you and Rin do in that photo.”

Makoto picked it up and handed it back to Haru, who took it and looked at Rin’s image longingly. The backstroke swimmer positively beamed when he saw Haru look at Rin the same way the little mermaid looked at Prince Erin in that Disney Princess movie Rin made them all watch for the hundredth time – even when they were in their teens.

“I haven’t seen you look at anyone like that since that second time our team has won a relay together.”

Like one of those shojo heroines his sister enjoyed, Haru turned as pink as a sakura petal and tuned to look at Makoto grinning.  

“That’s right! Me and the team know you and Rin have a thing _going on_.”

“Please do not waggle your eyebrows like that.” Haru cut him off and put the photo back onto a dry part of the table. “It’s weird.”

“What’s weird is not telling the love of your life how you truly feel!” Makoto crossed his arms and glared at the wall. Haruka huffed, doing the same in the other direction. “You’re weird!”

“Well if I’m so weird, why do you stick around?” Haru asked.

“Because you’re my best friend and I love you! And it’s because I love you that I don’t want to see you heartbroken over Rin again. You wasted your middle school years pining for him, I don’t want to see you like that again!”

Haru gawked at Makoto but said nothing – preferring to glare at his wall.

The silence was deafening before the team returned.

“We’re back! And we brought some whipped cream for that delicious… oh.” Nagisa grimaced at the way Makoto and Haru were turned away from each other. “Guys I think we’re gonna need some more sweets, we've got two sour faces here!”


End file.
